Feather Quills
by ryuseikari
Summary: (unsent) letters from the antiqua siblings
1. Kallian

A/N: I haven't started working on the ninth chapter of Hopes of the High Entia, but that doesn't mean it's slipped my mind. I thought I'd try writing letters in order to get more into Kallian and Melia's characters, and eventually decided to post them. I hope you guys find them alright. This first chapter is a letter from Kallian to Melia.

* * *

 _Melia-_

 _It is lonely here in the Imperial Palace. Father is gone and you have left, though that is not your fault. We should have given you more opportunities to travel over the Bionis and even to Sword Valley. An understanding of our world's geography is important for many things, especially for deciding strategic locations in this time of war. Though I have to attend more ministers' meetings, the bare, cold interaction amongst them cannot replicate the presence of family._

 _Here in Alcamoth, all of us are considerably occupied. Lorithia and the Ministry of Research are upgrading the design of the Havres and they should be ready for construction soon. Small groups of knights have been sent to different regions of the Bionis and to Sword Valley to examine possible battlegrounds. Tomorrow, the Homs and Nopon leaders will arrive. I hope that I am sufficiently prepared for my meeting with them._

 _Even now, I have my doubts. Every former Emperor, even Father, has followed the same rule- not to interact with the Homs or the Mechon. That way, we could spare our resources for internal problems. But look what has happened to us High Entia._

 _Our people have become proud. Many of them believed that that because of our privileged position on the head of the Bionis and because of our control over ether, we were the most advanced life-form on Bionis. We thought that Homs were barely deserving of our attention. We have placed all our trust in our power and technology, forgetting the one thing far more valuable than those- unity. While I am regent, I will do what I can to move our people in that direction._

 _I do not know why I find myself remembering the First Consort more often; perhaps it is because she was the one who taught me to love the Bionis we live on; to appreciate the wonders wrought by the ether that makes us and everything else in the world. But she was also the one who wanted me to think the way she did- that Homs were disgusting lowlife, unworthy of even a shred of our attention._

 _Decades before you were born, she would bring me to Eryth Sea and Makna Forest to enjoy the diversity of wildlife and the company of the Nopon. But even the mere mention of a Homs would darken her face as she pulled me back to the palace. I eventually learnt that Homs were "filthy", but I never learnt or understood why._

 _When the Second Consort, Minthe, came, the stereotype of the Homs that the First Consort had tried to imprint in me shattered. I cannot deny that I had little respect for her when I first saw her; she was beautiful and seemed to be of acceptable character, but if the First Consort hated those of her kind so much…_

 _It came as a surprise, though not a large one, when years passed and Minthe remained the kind, gentle person she had been from the beginning. Despite the First Consort's refusal to see her as a fellow consort and the general feeling that she was only in our home, our capital Alcamoth because Father was required to take a Homs Second Consort, she accepted her lot and did anything she could to help us. Her kind words often comforted and encouraged Father when he was at his most stressed. I began to respect, and then to like her._

 _Five years after Minthe came, you were born. By then, your mother had taught me to appreciate her race and those with Homs blood. And because she had now seen more of Bionis than the First Consort was willing to visit, her love for our world always felt more genuine, more developed than anything my own mother had ever shown me. I am grateful to her not only for her care and concern for me- no, all of us, but also for bringing you into our lives._

 _As you grew and matured, so did my thinking, though I still could not bring myself to protest and intervene when Father decided not to aid the Homs in the first war with the Mechon. Finally, we ourselves were attacked, and the Homs you befriended fought with a courage and strength I can only hope to achieve. It is because of you, sister, and the Homs, that I can find this strength to mend bonds long broken._

 _Perhaps there is some hope for all of us._

 _You are our hope, Melia, you and Shulk and the five other Homs and Nopon. You will escape the curse that binds our race to an inescapable fate- or maybe you can change that. Do not worry for me. Do what you have to. This is a trial far greater than the two you have gone through, but know that the peoples of Bionis will never stop believing in you, in all of you, and neither will I._

 _Awaiting your safe return,_

 _Kallian_


	2. Melia

_Kallian-_

 _Did you see me? Did you see us? Zanza's gone. We defeated him. He was the one who caused all this, the one who made our race to turn into Telethia. He made you turn into one as well. And I'll never forgive Lorithia for betraying all of us. I still remember that day, seeing the ether that was our life force thickening the air, hearing all of you in agony, watching you struggle._

 _You were the stronger of us two, brother. Had I not been chosen as crown princess by virtue of my bloodline, I know you would have been more than a worthy candidate. And even then you supported me. You were my best friend, my companion in the life we High Entia royalty led._

 _And so when I saw you, transforming into a monster, it truly shook me; you weren't supposed to go that way. But despite your pain- how do you do that, brother, how can you be so strong? You reminded me what I was fighting for, what I had to do for our people. It's always been our people before ourselves; that's what Father taught us._

 _I saw you once more, in the heart of the Bionis, lifeless, mindless. A Telethia, controlled by Lorithia. Did you hear me, brother, when I called out to you? It helped to look at Lorithia instead of you, to remember that I was fighting to free you and to defeat that traitor, instead of harming you._

 _I cannot thank you enough for what you did there, in that quiet place while the world shook around us. Your ether aura was so intense then; swirling around the two of us, bathing everything in soft light. It was comforting and heartbreaking to see you once more; to know that after those precious moments you would no longer exist. I wanted to take your hand, like I did so many times as a child, and pull you away with me. I try not to blame myself for your transformation. And even though I know it was never my fault, somehow I can't help but feel guilty for being unable to protect you as you protected me._

 _But I've done what you told me to, brother. I've forged my own path, chosen the future together with Shulk. We've created a new world. Alvis told us that in this world, all life would walk towards the future together. And I truly hope we will. Shulk is with Fiora now, but even through the ache in my heart I remember that they're happy, and their happiness is my happiness._

 _I wish you were here to enjoy this new world with me. We would live the life we should have._

 _I miss you, Kallian. But I promise I'll continue to lead the remnant of our people with everything in me._

 _Until we meet again,_

 _Melia._


End file.
